Awards

Staff Pick

Enter the secretive world of the most powerful private army on the planet. Here Scahill exposes the disturbing story of Blackwater, a shadowy private company offering specialized military services for hire. A dark study of both the organization and the wealthy, ultra-conservative family that founded the company, Blackwater is a remarkably researched and alarming read. Recommended by Ted, Powells.com

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

On September 16, 2007, machine gun fire erupted in Baghdad's Nisour Square leaving seventeen Iraqi civilians dead, among them women and children. The shooting spree, labeled Baghdad's Bloody Sunday, was neither the work of Iraqi insurgents nor U.S. soldiers. The shooters were private forces working for the secretive mercenary company, Blackwater Worldwide.

This is the explosive story of a company that rose a decade ago from Moyock, North Carolina, to become one of the most powerful players in the War on Terror. In his gripping bestseller, award-winning journalist Jeremy Scahill takes us from the bloodied streets of Iraq to hurricane-ravaged New Orleans to the chambers of power in Washington, to expose Blackwater as the frightening new face of the U.S. war machine.

From Our Staff:

Award-winning journalist Jeremy Scahill exposes the widespread outsourcing of military tasks to private companies that are bankrolled by right-wing millionaire Eric Prince, founder of Blackwater Worldwide. This is an intense book with deep implications regarding our reputation abroad. I would recommend this book to anyone.Recommended by our staff at Powells.com

Review:

"Thanks to Jeremy Scahill and other reporters of conscience and courage, 'independent journalist' is not an oxymoron." Ray McGovern

Review:

"From Belgrade to Baghdad, from Nigeria to New Orleans, Jeremy Scahill leads a new generation of muckraking journalists. Scahill is exposing the dark, violent and secretive world of the neo-mercenaries Washington is increasingly deploying in its wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and at home in the US. His investigative skill, coupled with his graceful style make this book essential reading." Amy Goodman, host of Democracy Now!

Synopsis:

Meet Blackwater USA, the world's most secretive and powerful mercenary firm. Based in the wilderness of North Carolina, it is the fastest-growing private army on the planet, with forces capable of carrying out regime change throughout the world. Blackwater protects the top U.S. officials in Iraq and yet the world knows almost nothing about the firm's quasi-military operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, and inside the United States.

Synopsis:

The unauthorized story of the epic rise of one of the most powerful and secretive forces to emerge from the U.S. military-industrial complex, hailed by the Bush administration as a revolution in military affairs, but considered by others as a dire threat to American democracy.

Synopsis:

It was the Mogadishu moment of the Iraq war. March 31, 2004: Four American mercenaries are ambushed in the Sunni hotbed of Fallujah, their jeeps set ablaze with the men inside. An angry mob drags their charred corpses through the streets, hanging them from a bridge over the Euphrates River. "Fallujah is the graveyard of the Americans!," the mob declares in front of the cameras. Within hours, the images spread across the world. The ensuing US slaughter in Fallujah would fuel the fierce Iraqi resistance that haunts US occupation forces to this day. Who were the mercenaries killed in Fallujah and who sent them there to die?

Meet Blackwater USA, the powerful private army that the U.S. government has quietly hired to operate in international war zones and on American soil. Founded by billionaire Erik Prince, the company has its own military base, a fleet of twenty aircraft, and twenty-thousand troops at the ready, Blackwater is the elite Praetorian Guard for the "global war on terror"-- yet most people have never heard of it. It was the moment the war turned: On March 31, 2004, four Americans were ambushed and burned near their jeeps by an angry mob in the Sunni stronghold of Falluja. Their charred corpses were hung from a bridge over the Euphrates River. The ensuing slaughter by U.S. troops would fuel the fierce Iraqi resistance that haunts occupation forces to this day. But these men were neither American military nor civilians. They were highly trained private soldiers sent to Iraq by a secretive mercenary company based in the wilderness of North Carolina. Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army is the unauthorized story of the epic rise of one of the most powerful and secretive forces to emerge from the U.S. military-industrial complex, hailed by the Bush administration as a revolution in military affairs, but considered by others as a dire threat to American democracy.

Synopsis:

* Winner of the George Polk Book Award

* Alternet Best Book of the Year

* Barnes & Noble one of the Best Nonfiction Books of 2007

* Amazon one of the Best Nonfiction Books of 2007

Meet Blackwater USA, the world’s most secretive and powerful mercenary firm. Based in the wilderness of North Carolina, it is the fastest-growing private army on the planet, with forces capable of carrying out regime change throughout the world. Blackwater protects the top U.S. officials in Iraq and yet the world knows almost nothing about the firm’s quasi-military operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, and inside the United States.

This is the dark story of the rise of a powerful mercenary army, ranging from the blood-soaked streets of Fallujah to rooftop firefights in Najaf to the hurricane-ravaged U.S. Gulf Coast to Washington D.C., where Blackwater executives are hailed as new heroes in the war on terror.

Video

About the Author

Jeremy Scahill is a Polk Award-winning investigative journalist. He is a frequent contributor to The Nation magazine and a correspondent for the national radio show Democracy Now! Scahill has reported extensively from Iraq, the former Yugoslavia, and Nigeria. He is currently a Puffin Foundation Writing Fellow at The Nation Institute and lives in Brooklyn, New York.

What Our Readers Are Saying

Average customer rating based on 4 comments:

Jdub, September 20, 2011 (view all comments by Jdub)
Scahill provides a well documented account of the private military movement. This is a must read for those seeking the next generation of investigative journalists. Scahill's critique is consistent, well researched, and timely.

mike_bos, January 28, 2009 (view all comments by mike_bos)
The topic of “hired” guns, no bid contract, private armies and misappropriation of billions is truly interesting, but the book became unreadable. Mr. Scahill’s reporting of the “facts” is so laced with his disdain for the Erik Prince and Bush doctrine he looses credibility with the reader. At some point one might find a contractor traveling in a convoy that is engulfed in flames, beaten and beheaded as “victim” not simply a heartless mercenary. The facts clearly support there were many atrocities committed in Iraq by contractors and the lack of culpability is unacceptable. However, if you paint every American as blood thirsty killer and every Iraqis as a innocent god fearing being, you are not credible

Was this comment helpful? | Yes | No(4 of 12 readers found this comment helpful)

curt, July 19, 2008 (view all comments by curt)
Scahill had a great opportunity to expose Blackwater and how wrong it is for the US to be hiring mercenaries. (Its unAmerican!) But instead he crashes into "I hate republicans, I hate Catholics, I hate the military, but most of all I hate George Bush".
Scahill could have compaired the cost of training and maintaining special troops verses hiring them as mercinaries, he could pointed out the greater security there is for the soldiers when they are part of the military or that what Blackwater does reflects on all of us. But no he went into a convulsion about how bad US policy was in Iraq, he represented jokes made by the US Ambassitor as facts, and how innocent and great the Iraq's were compaired to the Americans.
Most of all I was disappointed this book had about as much spin as O'Riley's "No Spin Zone"

Was this comment helpful? | Yes | No(8 of 22 readers found this comment helpful)

Enter the secretive world of the most powerful private army on the planet. Here Scahill exposes the disturbing story of Blackwater, a shadowy private company offering specialized military services for hire. A dark study of both the organization and the wealthy, ultra-conservative family that founded the company, Blackwater is a remarkably researched and alarming read.

by Ted

"Review"
by Ray McGovern,
"Thanks to Jeremy Scahill and other reporters of conscience and courage, 'independent journalist' is not an oxymoron."

"Review"
by Amy Goodman, host of Democracy Now!,
"From Belgrade to Baghdad, from Nigeria to New Orleans, Jeremy Scahill leads a new generation of muckraking journalists. Scahill is exposing the dark, violent and secretive world of the neo-mercenaries Washington is increasingly deploying in its wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and at home in the US. His investigative skill, coupled with his graceful style make this book essential reading."

"Synopsis"
by Perseus,
Meet Blackwater USA, the world's most secretive and powerful mercenary firm. Based in the wilderness of North Carolina, it is the fastest-growing private army on the planet, with forces capable of carrying out regime change throughout the world. Blackwater protects the top U.S. officials in Iraq and yet the world knows almost nothing about the firm's quasi-military operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, and inside the United States.

"Synopsis"
by Firebrand,

The unauthorized story of the epic rise of one of the most powerful and secretive forces to emerge from the U.S. military-industrial complex, hailed by the Bush administration as a revolution in military affairs, but considered by others as a dire threat to American democracy.

"Synopsis"
by Firebrand,

It was the Mogadishu moment of the Iraq war. March 31, 2004: Four American mercenaries are ambushed in the Sunni hotbed of Fallujah, their jeeps set ablaze with the men inside. An angry mob drags their charred corpses through the streets, hanging them from a bridge over the Euphrates River. "Fallujah is the graveyard of the Americans!," the mob declares in front of the cameras. Within hours, the images spread across the world. The ensuing US slaughter in Fallujah would fuel the fierce Iraqi resistance that haunts US occupation forces to this day. Who were the mercenaries killed in Fallujah and who sent them there to die?

Meet Blackwater USA, the powerful private army that the U.S. government has quietly hired to operate in international war zones and on American soil. Founded by billionaire Erik Prince, the company has its own military base, a fleet of twenty aircraft, and twenty-thousand troops at the ready, Blackwater is the elite Praetorian Guard for the "global war on terror"-- yet most people have never heard of it. It was the moment the war turned: On March 31, 2004, four Americans were ambushed and burned near their jeeps by an angry mob in the Sunni stronghold of Falluja. Their charred corpses were hung from a bridge over the Euphrates River. The ensuing slaughter by U.S. troops would fuel the fierce Iraqi resistance that haunts occupation forces to this day. But these men were neither American military nor civilians. They were highly trained private soldiers sent to Iraq by a secretive mercenary company based in the wilderness of North Carolina. Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army is the unauthorized story of the epic rise of one of the most powerful and secretive forces to emerge from the U.S. military-industrial complex, hailed by the Bush administration as a revolution in military affairs, but considered by others as a dire threat to American democracy.

"Synopsis"
by Perseus,

* Winner of the George Polk Book Award

* Alternet Best Book of the Year

* Barnes & Noble one of the Best Nonfiction Books of 2007

* Amazon one of the Best Nonfiction Books of 2007

Meet Blackwater USA, the world’s most secretive and powerful mercenary firm. Based in the wilderness of North Carolina, it is the fastest-growing private army on the planet, with forces capable of carrying out regime change throughout the world. Blackwater protects the top U.S. officials in Iraq and yet the world knows almost nothing about the firm’s quasi-military operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, and inside the United States.

This is the dark story of the rise of a powerful mercenary army, ranging from the blood-soaked streets of Fallujah to rooftop firefights in Najaf to the hurricane-ravaged U.S. Gulf Coast to Washington D.C., where Blackwater executives are hailed as new heroes in the war on terror.

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